How can I begin to describe depression to someone who has never had it?

You feel lost in a black hole which seems inescapable, dark, cold and hopeless. No light seems to be able to save you

An absolute desire to get everything over with. You have no motivation and just feel like letting everything drift away. Absolutely no interest in anything, that includes sex, and you just feel like everything is over.

Describing depression to someone that has never had it is impossible. You cannot understand something you've never experience, you can only imagine. You cannot explain depression, you can however, explain that you need someone.

Depression can be described like a car without fuel. You want to do things but your body does not to

Winston Churchill always described his depression beautifully, so these are quotes from him. For suicidal thoughts: "I don’t like standing near the edge of a platform when an express train is passing through. I like to stand back and, if possible, get a pillar between me and the train. I don’t like to stand by the side of a ship and look down into the water. A second’s action would end everything. A few drops of desperation." For recovering from depression: "I think this man might be useful to me – if my black dog returns. He seems quite away from me now – it is such a relief. All the colours come back into the picture." On depression, he compared depression to a black dog. But the black dog would not trail you around, but would leap out at you from corners of the room, it's teeth bared, hurting you, but never killing you...

Depression is like cancer, the difference is it's harder to label because it's a disease in your brain that no one else can see or feel but you. It's a cloud of gray and tired bones. It's just as bad as any disease out there because it will try and take your life.

Explain to them the dictionary definition of depression. Then explain to them how you feel and what your depression situation means to you, without disclosing any information you don't want them to know - unless you're speaking with a professional who's trying to help you!

First of all, you need to tell them what depression is- an illness. Bring out some facts, provide reliable sources that talk about it and it's symptoms.

It is like sitting under a well with the slightest bean of lights. Just sitting there, looking up, feeling like you are stuck in the well, in the darkness forever, and you just keep going in this cycle of depression, nothing feels enjoyable, until you've had enough pain and that's how the light gets in because we are all broken after all :)

Explain it like you where to a child this is something that can be very touchy to many people so explain it carefully